Azuriah Medan
"I hereby declare the Isoterix separate from our joined peoples, that we may find our rightful place among distant stars and never come to blows against our more reasonable cousins. To my friends and fellow councilors among the Tsintic, may you forgive us for the atrocities that we commit, for we will never forgive ourselves." Azuriah Medan, as Lord Apophis of the Isoterix during the Schism Isoterix Azuriah has acted as the Prophet for the Nerai people since the schism between the Tsintic and Isoterix peoples, serving as an unshakable pillar of faith for a community that has suffered greater than any other. His true origin is shrouded in mystery, and often only hinted at through the supposed history of Selena Medan. His first actual documented appearance was during the first Tsintaerix journey to the stars, where he was noted as a religious leader among the Isoxi clans known as Azure of Cresting Moon. With the advancement of their close cousins, the Isoxi had been initially angered by being left behind, but the efforts of Azuriah and several other shamans brought the Isoxi to understanding that they would be needed by their more reasonable cousins soon. For several long years the Isoxi waited, and as they waited, the shaman known as Azure faded from view, all the while his influence felt on the unruly tribes. The Schism Later, during the Tsintaerix Age of Glory, a Tsintic man known as Azuriah Medan served as a councilor on the High Council of Tsintaerix. His tenureship as councilor was not noted for large sweeping changes, as he was at best, a moderate and often served as a swing-vote for deciding matters. For his neutrality he was given the position of High-Councilor on two occasions, the first passing without incident, but the second term had severe changes on both the Tsintic and the Isoterix people. Serving as one of the more neutral High-Councilors since his last term, Azuriah had been presiding over multiple hearings on the ever increasing tension between the two factions, every hearing ending with a brief period of lessened tensions. The tensions culminated in the interruption of a council meeting by the Lord Apophis Razer Dasmith, the Isoterix man calling out Azuriah to a Trial-By-Blade. The ensuing duel lasted for nearly an hour, the two men near equals in skill, but ended drastically when Razer left himself open to a chest strike that left him gutted on Azuriah's blade. Azuriah was stunned by the move, as it was apparent even to the other Tsintic councilors, that the move was purposeful on Razer's part. Not only that, but Razer had confessed to have spoken with the seers and told of terrifying portents had he been the victor. When Azuriah stood once more in the council-chamber, he was both acting High-Councilor of the Tsintic, and the Lord Apophis of the Isoterix. Knowing that the wrong action here could send the two sides into a brutal civil war, Azuriah stepped down from office as High-Councilor, and declared the Isoterix people exiles from the Tsintic people. A brief period of chaos erupted among the Isoterix as they struggled to come to grips with their own nature, and the laws of their culture. Azuriah was simultaneously hailed as the greatest warrior among the mortal Isoterix, and despised for his decision to declare them exiled. A silence overcame the people when Azuriah spoke with their warrior-goddess, the week long talks leaving the assorted clans in reverent worship while the Tsintic could only watch. When Azuriah and Selena finally emerged from their discussions, the warrior-goddess of the Isoterix declared Azuriah her Prophet, and that the exile was to be seen as a great journey to stars that were theirs to call a true home. With support from both Selena, and the Isoterix, Azuriah lead his people to the edge of the galaxy in a mass exodus, stopping only to bid farewell to those few Tsintic he had strong ties to. The Exodus/Damnation Part One With their home behind them, the Isoterix entered the darkness of the void between galaxies in the hopes of finding a new home. Azuriah lead the people as not only their military leader, but also as their religious leader after Selena's proclamation before their departure in order to keep the people united. The further the Isoterix journeyed, the more their faith solidified, the people finding solidarity in a united faith and using it to further their culture even more. The tolls of dark space were great though, in that many of the Isoterix couldn't handle the sheer oppressive emptiness of the void and went insane. When they did finally reach M33, they had lost nearly a tenth of their population from the void-madness, and Azuriah's first action was to commemorate the first world they encountered as a cemetary world. Azuriah consolidated the Isoterix into multiple clan-fleets after they had paid proper respects to the fallen, and his last orders for them was to spread across the galaxy and carve their own empires. As the Isoterix clans disbanded and scattered across the new galaxy to conquer new lands, Azuriah stepped away from his rule as prophet, and he faded into mythology once again. His own journeys during this time took him across the new galaxy to fully investigate the ancient secrets the new stars held. Selena journeyed with him, the two uncovering the darkest secrets of the galaxy and taking strides to keep them secrets. During this exodus they came across the galactic core, discovered that it was a solid mass of a material unlike any they had ever encountered before. As they investigated the material, they began to discover its true origins and the sentience locked within it. At first they feared the sentience, for it was a creature beyond age and unbound by the normal laws which governed reality. Slowly the three came to an agreement, and began to form the new pantheon of Isoterix worship, letting small myths leak into the galaxy and watching as the Isoterix adopted them for their own. The Exodus period of the Isoterix was slowly drawing to a close, and Azuriah had helped to keep the myriad nation-states together through their darkest hour for the first of many times. The Era of Kings Confident that they had established their hold on the new galaxy, the myriad clans began to craft kingdoms of their own, each of them declaring their own shogunates loyal to the Prophet and the Isoxi Emperor. Throughout this era Azuriah acted as a free-lance soldier, fighting throughout the galaxy under multiple clans and earning his own place within the new history of Isoterix. Despite the relative peace between the clans, there were still multiple conflicts between the shogunates which shaped the cultures of the various clans. As well as free-lancing, Azuriah carefully manipulated the smaller clans into and away from confrontations with larger clans, acting as a sword and shield for the more civil clans, and working to dismantle those who were more hostile. His efforts during this era kept many of the larger and more passive kingdoms in power, and allowed the formation of a true empire, with nearly all of the clans petitioning to join the Isoxi Imperium. Azuriah chose to stay relatively low-key during this time, despite the calls for their prophet to return, and instead continued his manipulations of the background politics in order to keep the more stable religions and clans in power. Eventually he became known as the Silent-Prophet, a warrior who wandered the stars and preached without the fervent zealotism of the more radical faiths. The Silent-Prophet slowly became more of a myth than a real person, the Isoterix people clinging more to the message itself, rather than the messenger. As the Silent-Prophet became centered in the great ballads of the era, Azuriah once more faded from prominence, allowing the Silent-Prophet to remain a legend. He watched as the Isoterix Imperium solidified itself as a culture, becoming less the tribal people that left the Tsintic behind, and more of a real civilization. Confident his part was done for now, he retreated back to the edges of known space and watched the Isoterix, only intervening if one of the clans was in danger of upsetting the balance that him and Selena had worked hard to establish. The Isoxi Imperium The Fall of the Isoterix/Damnation Part Two The Nerai The Rise of the Nerai Ascendancy The Khavassan Invasions The Dark Prophet Crisis The Unity Wars Legacy Rising The Shattered Mirror/Damnation Part Three << ---Information incoming--- >> Category:The Nerai Category:Characters